


The Science of Romance

by just_nat



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Romance, Stargazing, THATS what i forgot, im so tired idk what else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26246836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_nat/pseuds/just_nat
Summary: Raphaella had a Plan. She also had a crush, but the Plan was the most important part here. The Plan went something like this:Step 1: figure out an excuse to flirt with IvyStep 2: ?????Step 3: profit (be dating Ivy)my submission for mechs femslash week! 2 days late but who's counting
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria/Raphaella la Cognizi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 68
Collections: Mechanisms Femslash Week 2020





	1. Octokittens are romantic, right?

**Author's Note:**

> "I'm gonna write something short for femslash week." I said. "Just one or two of the prompts." i'm a fucking fool

Raphaella had a Plan. She also had a crush, but the Plan was the most important part here. The Plan went something like this: 

Step 1: figure out an excuse to flirt with Ivy

Step 2: ?????

Step 3: profit (be dating Ivy)

Admittedly, not her most well thought out plan but every good mad scientist knows that sometimes you've gotta leave room for improvisation. Romance couldn't be that hard, right? Besides, pretty much all their albums had some form of romance in then so she had plenty of examples. 

...most of the romance in their albums was tragic but Raphaella was confident she could make something work. 

Attempt 1: Octokittens are romantic, right?

Most of the time Raphaella didn't pay much attention to the octokittens. Occasionally some of them make it into her lab and create a mess at which point she made a point of enacting vengeance upon them. 

The last time she had attempted an experiment on an octokitten, it had exploded and left a gross gooey mess all over her lab. Raphaella still wasn't sure if it had been a kind of natural defense mechanism or if somebody (Jonny) had fed it something from Tim's stash of explosives. 

At the moment however, the octokittens were spared from Raphaella's vengeful wrath. 

See, Ivy was quite fond of the little abominations for some reason and lately had been talking about a particularly glittery octokitten that she had seen traces of but hadn't been able to spot yet. 

Giving presents was a big part of wooing someone, Raphaella knew, which was why she was currently hunting the glittery octokitten in the depths of the Aurora with a large net in one hand and some octokitten bait in the other. 

(The bait was a couple of Marius's fingers. The octokittens had developed a certain taste for Marius's flesh and Raphaella had sat on him and didn't get up until he agreed to sacrifice his fingers to the noble cause of her quest to romance Ivy) 

"Here, kitty kitty kitty..." Raphaella called, shaking the box with Marius's fingers around a little. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement. She shook the box a little more, carefully watching while pretending she hadn't noticed. Closer, closer... there! 

Raphaella spun around in one fluid movement, slamming the net down- right onto Jonny's head. Damn. 

Jonny immediately started squirming, trying to get the net off of his head while spitting curses at her. "Fuck- what- get the fuck off-" 

Raphaella scowled, and took the net off. Bastard had probably scared off any octokittens that had been lured in by the bait. 

"What are you doing down here?" She hissed at Jonny, crossing her arms and glaring. 

Jonny scowled up at her. "I was trying to hunt for stowaways. They've been getting too complacent lately, figured I should remind them not to get comfortable."

Raphaella nodded distractedly, rocking back and forth on her toes while looking around for any stray octokittens. Her fingers inched towards her gun. Maybe if she shot Jonny the smell of fresh blood would attract them? 

Luckily for Jonny's continued existence, Raphaella spotted the glimmering octokitten just behind his head. Slowly, carefully, she pulled out one of Marius's fingers and waved it around a little to catch its attention. 

Jonny (who had still been talking the entire time, something about Brian? She hadn't been listening) looked at her weirdly, turning his head to try and see what she was looking at. 

Acting fast before Jonny scared it away, Raphaella threw the box of fingers in the general direction of the octokitten before lunging forward with her net, knocking Jonny to the floor in the process. 

"Blep?" Said the octokitten, looking up from where it had been consuming Marius's fingers. 

"Ow," groaned Jonny from the ground, rubbing his head where it cracked against the wall, "That hurt."

"HAHA!" Raphaella cheered as she brought the net down, capturing the glittery octokitten. She pushed a button on the handle of the net, and it detached itself to tighten around the slowly oozing octokitten. 

Raphaella bent down and scooped up the now contained octokitten, and lifted it over her head in victory. 

"Did you really have to knock me over to catch it." Jonny grumbled from the floor. 

Ignoring him, Raphaella let out a proper Mad Scientist Cackle before dashing off to Ivy's library to show her. 

She arrived, panting, at the library a good 5 minutes later. It usually took longer to get there but Aurora seemed to be on her side in this and had shortened the trip for her. Patting the wall in thanks, Raphaella headed inside. 

"Ivy?" She called out, wandering through the bookshelves. "You in here?"

Ivy's library was always growing, and the towering bookshelves created a maze that was easy to get lost in if Aurora or Ivy herself weren't acting as guides.

Thankfully there was a relatively clear path to the center of the library laid out, which meant Aurora must have told Ivy that Raphaella was coming. Still she hesitated, suddenly overcome by nerves. 

The octokitten, which had been surprisingly relaxed about its capture so far, squirmed 

Looking down at the octokitten in her arms, Raphaella sighed a little. 

"Crushes are harder than I thought," she complains to it. Ivy was just so smart, and she always looked so cute when she was really concentrating on something. Sometimes Ivy would stick her tongue out the corner of her mouth when she focused on reading and it always made Raphaella's heart do little flips. 

The octokitten oozed some rainbow glitter onto her arms in support, and Raphaella patted it on the head a little. 

The oozing octokitten filled Raphaella with some sort of determination, and she headed off to find Ivy. 

"Ivy? I brought something for you! It's a gift!" 

Raphaella rounded a corner and spotted Ivy. She was sitting cross legged with a blanket draped over her shoulders and a book in her lap, her tongue sticking out in concentration. 

It was such a domestic image that it took Raphaella's breath away. She could feel a blush climbing up her cheeks as she continued to watch Ivy, the octokitten in her arms forgotten. 

She was so cute it just wasn't fair. How was Raphaella supposed to be cool and charming and win Ivy's heart when her brain simply malfunctioned whenever Ivy smiled at her? 

Sitting down opposite Ivy, Raphaella reaches out to tap her on the shoulder. "Hey! Guess what I got you~"

Ivy looked up from her book, blinking at her. "There's an 80% chance it has to do with Science, but only a 56% chance it will explode," she counts the possibilities off on her fingers, grinning at Raphaella as she continues, "a less than 62% chance of it involving another crew member and a 95% chance it's an octokitten." 

Raphaella beamed right back at Ivy, bouncing a little in excitement as she responded. 

"I found that glittery octokitten you were talking about the other day!" Bringing it out from behind her back with a flourish, she presents it to Ivy. 

The octokitten lets out a curious "mrrp?" As Raphaella passes it over to Ivy. 

"It leaves a trail of sparkling gloop everywhere," Raphaella says "Including my arms, apparently." She holds her arms up to the light. There is some leftover slime from the octokitten but it's rainbow colored and sparkly so she figures it can stay for now. 

Ivy holds the octokitten up for inspection, squinting at it a little.

"It doesn't have a name tag," Ivy announces, sounding pleased. "Tim puts name tags on all the octokittens he's adopted which means there's a 97% chance that he hasn't seen this one." 

Raphaella pushed the broken name tag a little deeper into her pocket. Tim had dozens of octokittens and Ivy had been really excited about this one. He probably wouldn't even notice it was missing anyways! It was fine.

Ivy hummed a little. "It needs a name, otherwise Tim will try and steal it away again," she says thoughtfully, scratching the octokitten behind the ear. It melts into her lap at the attention and begins to purr. "Who's a good little abomination, huh? Is it you? Is it?" Ivy laughs a little and oh. 

Her laugh sounds like sunshine breaking through the clouds and it settles in Raphaella's heart like it's always belonged there, like she was created just to memorize the way Ivy's nose crinkles up when she laughs and the shape of her smile. 

She's staring at Ivy like a lovestruck fool, and she tries to pull herself together. 

"Maybe we could call it glitter & gold?" It's the first name that pops into Raphaella's head but it's actually not a bad suggestion. Mentally, she gives herself a high-five for the good idea. 

"We?" Ivy questions, tilting her head. "Are you suggesting co-ownership of the octokitten?"

Raphaella was pretty sure people were usually in a relationship before they adopted a pet together, but she certainly wasn't going to complain about spending more time with Ivy. 

"I guess I am!" Raphaella moved to be sitting beside Ivy, and casually leaned against her. "So, do you like the name?" 

Ivy turned her head to look Raphaella in the eyes. This brought her closer to Raphaella's face, and she couldn't stop herself from imagining leaning down to close the gap and kissing Ivy. 

Just as she worked up the nerve to try, Ivy very seriously says, "I need to go kill Tim and steal a name tag from him." And before Raphaella can even begin to reply, Ivy kisses her on the cheek and sprints out of the library. 

The newly named glitter & gold lets out a surprised squeak as it tumbles out of Ivy's lap to land on the floor. Raphaella sits there stunned for a moment before letting out an embarrassingly loud squeal, and buries her face in the blanket Ivy left behind. 

She is so done for. 


	2. Romantic music is such a narrow genre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt 2: music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any music can be romantic if you try hard enough

Raphaella is practicing one of her songs for their next album when there's a knock on the door to the practice room. 

She opens the door to find Ivy, with her flute in hand. It's a bit of a surprise to see her, considering Raphaella had won the rights to have this practice room to herself for the day but definitely not an unwelcome one. 

"Ivy! What's up?" Shutting the door behind Ivy, she adds "If this is about glitter & gold I already fed xem this morning and I made sure it wasn't anything Nastya made." 

Grinning, Ivy replies, "There's only a 34% chance that Nastya's attempts would seriously harm xem actually! Glitter & gold is proving to be rather resilient." 

Raphaella brightens at that. "That is rather resilient! Maybe I should run some tests on xem, see if the glitter is some kind of defense mechanism." 

That's an interesting idea, come to think of it, maybe she should compare glitter & gold against non-glittery octokittens and see which were more hardy...

No. Focus. Science could wait. What was she doing again? Right, conversation. Shaking her head to clear out the Science Spiral, Raphaella looked back at Ivv. 

The practice rooms are already small, but Raphaella swears the amount of space between her and Ivy seems to be shrinking by just barely noticeable amounts. Knowing Aurora, it could actually be true but she doesn't want to call attention to it in case it's just her imagination. 

"So," Raphaella says, nervously combing her fingers through her hair, "what's up then?"

Ivy must notice Raphaella's nerves but she thankfully doesn't comment on it. Instead, she settles cross legged down on the floor and pulls out her flute saying, "Fucking Jonny was arguing with Ashes too loudly, and there was a 64% chance you wouldn't mind company." 

Ah. Things tended to get... heated in more ways than one when Ashes and Jonny argued, so she didn't blame Ivy for wanting to leave. The fact that Ivy had chosen to find Raphaella instead of retreating to her library though...

Maybe she was reading too much into it. After all, it wasn't that unusual for Ivy to seek her out for company. Besides since Ivy had her flute with her, it was more likely she was also looking to practice some of their newest album. 

They'd finally gotten around to fishing Brian out of that sun a couple years back now and once he'd finished sulking about how long it took them, had sat down and actually began writing the album for it. High noon over Camelot it was called.

Reading into things or not, Raphaella was pretty sure just the two of them, together in a small room with nobody else around, was right out of one of Ivy's romance novels. Without any further prompting her mind started running wild with a variety of scenarios, most of which ended with her kissing Ivy over and over until one of them ran out of air, and maybe a bit beyond that point. 

Ahh she couldn't be doing this! Ivy was literally right there! Shaking her head to hopefully knock the little romantic voice that had taken up residence out, Raphaella looked back at Ivy. She hadn't seemed to notice Raphaella's brief detour into fantasies, and was running through some fingerings on her flute. There was a bit of a flush on her cheeks that hadn't been visible before, but it was getting kind of warm with both of them in the small space. 

"So uh, did you want to do something from high noon?" Raphaella asked, settling back into her chair. She'd mostly been working on vocals since the practice room didn't fit a whole keyboard, but she could always try and persuade Aurora to expand it a bit. 

Ivy hummed a bit from her seat on the ground, apparently thinking something over. "Why don't we go through some stuff from Once?" She sat up a little straighter against the wall continuing, "It's been a while since we went through it, and it could be fun!" 

Raphaella grins back at her. "Sounds like a plan!"

As if on cue Aurora begins to play music. However because Aurora is at heart a bastard just like the rest of the mechanisms, the music she plays is not Cinders song. Instead of helping Raphaella out by playing the one romantic song she actually sings, pump shanty starts to blast out of the speaker in the corner. 

Ivy looks as confused by the choice of music as Raphaella feels, and even slightly frustrated? But she appears to push it aside with a shrug and raises her flute to her lips with a wink at Raphaella. 

The wink nearly sends Raphaella into another spiral of fantasies but she smacks her imagination with a stick and begins to sing, with Ivy alternating between playing her flute and shouting the verses out alongside Raphaella. 

Ivy doesn't sing very often, preferring to stick to the veritable army of instruments that she plays, but pump shanty doesn't really need good voices. With pump shanty, the louder you shouted the lyrics the better it sounded and Ivy could be very loud when she wanted to be. 

When the song finished, both of them were laughing and panting for breath. It hadn't exactly been the tender moment Raphaella had been thinking of, but it had been fun to just let loose with Ivy. 

Besides, seeing the huge grin on Ivy's face made her heart flutter in a way that had nothing to do with being out of breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurora: I Am Helping :)  
> Raphaella: You Are Not


	3. Nightmares, ghibli movies, and why three (or more) isn't a crowd when it's family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt 3: family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the found family got to me,,,

The next time Raphaella seeks out Ivy, romance is the last thing on her mind. It had been a long day followed by a failed attempt at sleep while her mind churned out new anxieties and shifting nightmares, and after the third attempt at sleep where she woke up close to tears in panic, Raphaella decided to give up on sleep for the night. 

Yawning, she unfolds her wings and stretches them out in an attempt to shake the lingering anxiety from the dream. Normally Raphaella prefers to be alone after a bad night like this, holing up in her lab to work on various projects until her hands stop shaking, but right now she just wants company. 

Glancing around the room, Raphaella spots glitter & gold sulking in the little bed she made for nym. "Bad night for you too huh," she sighs sympathetically. She crouches down to let nym settle into neir preferred spot on her shoulder, and adds "Let's go find Ivy. Maybe she's having a better night then we are."

It wasn't a long walk to Ivy's room, especially with Aurora helping out. Soon enough she was outside of Ivy's door and she knocked quietly. 

"Ivy? Are you awake?" She waits for a moment, absently scratching glitter & gold's head. A couple moments pass without a response, and Raphaella frowns. 

"Guess that's a no on Ivy having a better night," she mutters, turning to walk away. "Off to her library then!" Raphaella tries to inject a bit of cheer into her voice but it falls flat, and she feels her shoulders slump. Glitter & gold also seems to slump, letting out a defeated sounding mrrp even as she continues to scratch under neir chin. 

It's a bit of a longer walk to the library, and Raphaella is so tired she almost doesn't notice when another set of footsteps start to echo through the O'Neill ring besides her own. 

"Bad night for everyone I see," she calls out, pausing so whoever it was could catch up. 

It takes a second for the response to come, but Marius's voice comes from just behind her saying "Yeah, guess so." 

He sounds about as exhausted as Raphaella feels, and his trademark energy is noticeably dimmer although not completely gone. Marius wraps her in a hug, burying his face in her shoulder and Raphaella gladly returns the hug. She drops a kiss on the top of his head, and just holds him for a moment, curling her wings around both of them. Marius squeezes her tightly, and then steps back with a small but content grin on his face. 

Raphaella grabs Marius's flesh hand in her own and swings it between them as they walk on. Neither of them are in the mood to talk, letting the silence fill the air as they continue. 

When they arrive at Ivy's library, Marius huffs out a little laugh and waggles his eyebrows. Raphaella (gently) smacks him upside the head and Marius dances out of the way with a louder laugh this time. 

"Hey, hey! Look, tell you what: I'll head to the kitchen and make some popcorn and you set up some movies with Ivy," he pauses for a second, his shit-eating grin getting wider by the second as Raphaella narrows her eyes at him, "maybe something romantic?" 

Raphaella swiped at him in mock outrage as he danced away, his laughter echoing while he disappeared down the hallway to the kitchen. Bastard. It was good to see him smiling again though. 

She headed into the library with a faint smile still on her face. Ivy was just inside the doors, a book clutched in one hand and the other hovering by her gun. 

Raphaella waved and poked glitter & gold a little until ne waved a tentacle as well. "Hey Ivy. I uh. I've been having a bit of a rough night." She tries for a smile, and finds it comes a little easier now that Ivy's around. 

Ivy walks over and pulls a treat from one of the pockets on her skirt to give to glitter & gold. While she's petting nym, determinedly not looking at Raphaella she quietly says, "you can stay here if you want. I was planning on putting on a movie for background noise while I read," she gestures towards a comfortable looking set up of pillows and blankets with a laptop already downloading a movie, "and it has a 78% chance of making us both feel better." 

Raphaella smiles again, and the last of the anxiety that had been lingering in her stomach dissolves. 

"Ran into Marius on the way here. It's a bad nightall around really," she cocked her head to the side, "he went to grab popcorn from the kitchen which shouldn't take him this long unless- oh." Marius was probably taking an extra long time so she could be alone with Ivy. The thought alone was enough to make her blush. Were her feelings for Ivy really that obvious?

"Oh?" Ivy repeats, raising an eyebrow. 

"Ah - nothing, nothing just," Raphaella scrambles for an answer, cursing the fact that she blushes so easily, "you know how Marius is! He probably got distracted or something is all!" 

Ivy opens her mouth to say something in return, but is cut off by the library doors opening again. Marius walks in with his arms full of what must be all of the popcorn they had in the kitchen, and he's trailed by Ashes who has an amused look on their face as Marius rambles on. 

"-so I pulled out a gun and said 'I'M NOT GOING BACK TO JAIL-' and then I shot him." 

"Nice. Did you end up in jail though?" 

"Oh yeah definitely." 

The duo make it over to where the girls are waiting and Marius carefully places the bags of popcorn down on the table. 

"So!" Marius claps his hands together. "I brought popcorn and also Ashes which I'm pretty sure means I get first pick for movies." 

"Uh, considering that my presence counts as a bonus towards first choice I think I should win just by default." Ashes cuts in. They're currently pulling out lighters from every conceivable pocket, as well as a few inconceivable pockets, and dropping them into the ignition source time-out box. 

"There is a 76% chance that this will end in violence if it goes on." Ivy notes, although she doesn't move to stop the argument in any way.

Raphaella looks up from where she had been busy trying to persuade glitter & gold not to go after Marius's fingers again and says, "Clearly the obvious solution here is I get first pick! We're watching howl's moving castle everybody shut up and sat down." 

There's some grumbling from Ashes and Marius (and from the vents but all of them are politely pretending they don't know Nastya's up there) but Ivy smiles brightly at her which makes it all worth it. 

Raphaella grabs the laptop to set up Howl's moving castle while Marius brings the popcorn over. There's plenty of room to spread out but Ashes and Ivy have settled next to each other and Marius puts the popcorn down before wiggling into the middle between them. She laughs quietly before settling down cross-legged next to Ivy, letting glitter & gold stretch out contentedly in her lap. 

As the movie begins to play, Raphaella yawns and ever so casually stretches an arm out over Ivy's shoulders. She doesn't intend for it to be anything more than a comfort, but Ivy immediately leans into her side and Raphaella freezes for a second before relaxing. 

The rest of the crew slinks in at various points during the movie, settling into the cushions and tugging blankets over shoulders. It's easy to spot the tell tale traces of nightmares in the way Ashes is still fiddling with an old black & red lighter that they refuse to get rid of despite the numerous dents and scratches, or the way Brian has 3 blankets wrapped around him to ward off the phantom chill of the void, or even how Tim has one hand clenched around the set of dog tags he wears around his neck. 

But it's also easy to see the way they're all getting better. It's the way Nastya has her head in Jonnys lap while he plays with her hair and the fond smile on Jonnys face when he looks at her. She can see it when Marius throws popcorn across the room for the toy soldier to catch in its jaws, how his shoulders shake with laughter as he leans back into Ashes. 

For Raphaella though, it's most clear in the way Ivy leans against her while still watching the movie. The fact that Ivy trusts her enough to fully let her guard down and just relax means everything to her. Surrounded by her family, Raphaella smiles and closes her eyes against a sudden wave of sleepiness. Surely a quick nap couldn't hurt...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sure am glad nothing bad ever happens to Ivy when she sleeps :)


	4. Temporary solutions to permanent problems and other snappy phrases to avoid confronting reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt 4/5: angst/memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

When Raphaella wakes up again, she registers three things. 

One: the room is empty aside from her and Ivy.  
Two: at some point in the night, Ivy went from tucked against her side to sleep with her head in Raphaella's lap.  
Three: Ivy is screaming. 

Raphaella flies into action immediately, the sudden surge of adrenaline coursing through her suppressing any lingering sleepiness. 

"Ivy - Ivy wake up!" She says, desperately shaking her. All of them have nightmares but she's never seen Ivy's before, doesn't know if touching her is going to make things worse but it's all she can think of right now. 

Ivy's eyes fly open. Her scream cuts off and Raphaella can almost hear her mechanism working, hear the clicking and whirring as Ivy's brain wakes up. Just for a second, Ivy looks terrified. And then it's over. Ivy wakes up fully and whatever she was dreaming about is gone, locked away in her mind's archive. 

Raphaella watches still shocked, as Ivy shakes off the nightmare that woke her up screaming in favor of picking up glitter & gold from where fae had been happily munching on spilled popcorn. 

"Ivy? Are you alright?" She's cautious about it, not wanting to overstep any boundaries that Ivy might have but worried all the same. 

Ivy turns around with a curious "hmm?" and Raphaella can't breathe. Because there's still tear tracks on Ivy's cheeks from where she must have been crying in her sleep and even though she's calm now Raphaella can still hear her screaming and it's all too much. 

Raphaella's had enough panic attacks in her life to recognize the start of one but she can't stop it from happening. Her ears are ringing and she can barely get air in between her sobs and now look what she's done Ivy's just had a nightmare and she's making it all about herself and and and-

It's hard to hear anything aside from her own sobs and the ringing in her ears but faintly, she recognizes Ivy's voice and latches onto it. 

"-just try and match my breathing, okay?" Ivy is crouched down in front of her with a determined expression. Raphaella forces herself to match Ivy's deliberate steady breathing in and out, in and out, until she starts to calm down. 

Raphaella reaches out and grabs Ivy's hands to ground herself in the present. Neither of them say anything for a moment, content to sit quietly while Raphaella's breathing slowly returns to normal. 

It's Ivy who breaks the silence first, letting out a small giggle when glitter & gold tumbles off off where fae was perched on top of her head and onto the ground in between her and Raphaella. 

At the sound of Ivy's giggle, Raphaella can't help but smile. It fades quickly enough but it catches Ivy's attention, who gently places a hand on Raphaella's cheek, her thumb brushing away any lingering tears. Raphaella closes her eyes and leans into the warmth of Ivy's palm. Bringing her own hand up to cradle Ivy's, she lets herself enjoy it just for a second. 

Keeping her eyes closed she softly says, "Ivy are you sure you're alright? I'm just worried about you." 

When Raphaella opens her eyes, Ivy is staring at her incredulously with a crease furrowed in her brow. 

"Raphaella. There is a 58% chance you are deflecting from talking about the panic attack you just experienced." Her tone is mostly flat but there's a hint of concern as well. 

"Alright maybe I'm deflecting a little," Raphaella agrees, "but I am worried about you Ivy. You woke up screaming like you'd just had a terrible nightmare, but now you seem completely fine as if it didn't bother you at all." Her hand is still holding Ivy's in place on her cheek, and she gives it a comforting squeeze as she continues, "and I know none of us deal with nightmares the same way but I just worry, is all." 

There's a long moment of silence between them, broken only by their synchronized breaths before-

"I don't remember."

"What?"

"I don't remember. I wake up screaming every night but I don't even know why I'm screaming or what was happening before I woke up and everyday is the same but new and I. Dont. Remember." Ivy sounds almost frantic, and Raphaella can feel her hands shaking slightly in her loose grasp. 

"Hey, hey, breathe okay? It's okay." Raphaella takes a couple of slow breaths, waiting for Ivy to copy her before she continues talking. 

"If it's a problem with your memory maybe," she bites her lip. Memory issues are a touchy subject to begin with for Ivy, and combining that with anything to do with Ivy's mechanism is a great way to get herself shot. But she owes it to Ivy to be honest, so Raphaella braces herself and says, "maybe it's something with your mechanism?"

Ivy flinches, and Raphaella immediately feels like a horrible person. 

"It's completely up to you, but if you're okay with it I could always look at it? See if it's something..." but Ivy is already shaking her head no before Raphaella can even finish her sentence, blood draining from her already pale face. 

"I can't, Raphaella I can't, not if that's the only way it always hurts-" Ivy's shaking again, her breath coming fast and uneven just at the thought and Raphaella's heart breaks. She lets go of Ivy's hand just long enough to throw her arms around her in a hug and Ivy all but melts into it, letting herself be enveloped by Raphaella's wings. 

The two girls sit on the floor, arms wrapped around each other for a long time. When Raphaella eventually lets go, her eyes are red and puffy, as are Ivy's, but both of them feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gay and touch starved,,, the girls are tender


	5. The inherent romanticism of stargazing (is doubled when you're in space)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt 7: stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i realized halfway through writing this i forgot about prompt 6 but this is already so late please just use your imagination  
> anyways come get some sweet sweet tropes

It's a quiet night for once. Jonny had dragged the rest of the crew off for a night of "fun and doing grievous bodily harm to others" so Raphaella and Ivy were the only ones left on board. 

It was a nice planet that they had landed on, and the open field where they parked the Aurora had a breathtaking view of the stars. 

Currently, Raphaella was on a mission. She was going to kiss Ivy underneath the stars tonight, or she was going to die trying. She had gathered up a blanket from her room, changed into a nice-but-not-trying-too-hard outfit, and reapplied her eye makeup. After a quick detour to the kitchen to grab the fancy bottle of wine she'd stolen from some royal a couple planets back, Raphaella made her way to Ivy's room. 

"Hey, you in there?" She calls, knocking on the door before she loses her nerve. 

No sooner had the last word left her mouth then the door flew open to reveal a slightly disheveled looking Ivy. 

"Raphaella! Good! I am 83% certain you can help with this situation." Without even waiting for an answer, Ivy grabs Raphaella's wrist and pulls her inside. 

Raphaella lets herself get tugged into Ivy's room, a bit bemused by the turn of events. She sits down on the edge of the bed. There's at least 3 different skirts strewn across it, and a couple of shirt and waistcoat combinations hanging from various places around the room. 

"Uh, while I'm here I did actually want to ask you something-" Raphaella begins, but is cut off by a triumphant cry from where Ivy has been pulling at something in a corner. 

The "something" turns out to be glitter & gold who looks unimpressed at being removed from their nest. 

"This fiend," Ivy announces, shaking them around a little for emphasis, "has been stealing all of my best ties for their nest." 

Raphaella gasps in mock outrage. "You steal from Ivy? You take her ties like the common criminal? Oh, jail! Gay baby jail for glitter & gold for 100 years!" 

Glitter & gold seems unrepentant as they stretch their tentacles out towards Raphaella in search of scritches. Laughing, she takes them from Ivy's outstretched arms and starts scratching under their chin. 

She clears her throat to catch Ivy's attention and says, "Hey uh, I actually came to ask if you wanted to go stargazing? I brought a blanket and a bottle of fancy wine so we can make a night out of it." 

Ivy claps her hands together, excitingly responding, "Yes! I will join you on top of Aurora in 10 minutes and 48 seconds. Let me get changed."

Raphaella grins back at her, and leaves to go set up the blanket, dropping glitter & gold back in their corner nest as she exits. 

When Ivy arrives, Raphaella has spread out the blanket and poured a glass of wine for each of them. The glasses are just plastic since real glass doesn't last long on the Aurora. The last time Nastya had stolen fancy silverware and real wine glasses for the kitchen, they only lasted two days before the shockwave from one of Tim's explosions shattered them. 

So the glasses were made of plastic and the blanket was definitely singed around the corners. It didn't matter. What did matter was that the sky was clear enough for entire galaxies to be visible and swirling above them, and that the beauty of space was nothing compared to Ivy. 

Ivy wasn't wearing anything incredibly fancy, but seeing her in the light of the stars Raphaella knew without a doubt she was head over heels in love. 

As Ivy made her way over to Raphaella's side, she managed to tear her gaze away and pick up her glass of wine. 

"To finally getting some peace and quiet," she laughs, raising her glass in a toast. Ivy laughs as well and clinks her glass against Raphaella's. 

The two of them watch the stars, a comfortable silence settling in. At some point Raphaella stops looking at the sky and watches Ivy instead. She memorizes Ivy under the starlight taking in every detail about her, and thinks she finally understands why Ivy insists on remembering everything. 

"The stars are beautiful tonight." Ivy whispers, still looking up. 

"Yeah," Raphaella responds. "They're amazing." She isn't looking at the stars though. Raphaella is watching Ivy. She means it. Raphaella has seen hundreds of thousands of stars, and none of them are as beautiful as Ivy. 

"Beautiful." Ivy echoes. She's not looking at the stars anymore. 

Raphaella leans forward until her forehead is against Ivy's and their lips are just inches apart. 

"You know I'm in love with you right?" Raphaella asks, watching Ivy's face. Her heart is hanging in the space between them. 

Ivy breaks out into a grin brighter than any star and says "There's a 99.9% chance you're going to kiss me."

"Those are pretty good odds." Raphaella says, and closes the gap between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is the longest thing i've ever written i think anyways. top 10 lesbian moments it's 1:30 am im going to sleep


End file.
